Robben Island is a prison island off Capetown, South Africa, best known as the jail where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for eighteen years. The island has a dubious history as a place of imprisonment and exile long before the rise of apartheid. Its first prison use is thought to be as early as the 17th century when opponents of Dutch colonies around the world were sent there, while British forces sentenced African leader Makanda Nxele to life imprisonment there early in the 19th century. For almost a century, starting in 1836, lepers were sent to male and female…